We are delighted to announce the launch of our artist of the year competition - the winner will receive a cash prize of one thousand pounds, be invited to exhibit in the main gallery room here at the ART GALLERY, Tetbury, and will feature on the website as our Artist of the Year.There will also be two highly commended artists who will be invited to exhibit at our exhibition venues in 2013 and will also be specially featured on the website.

So, if you have a favourite artist why not ‘Like’ their work – you’ll find a link to this on every piece of art on the site. Keep an eye out over the coming months as you’ll be able to see who the competition leaders are and help your favourite reach top spot.

This month we are delighted to welcome three well established artists to our exhibition space at The Malvern Theatres, Worcestershire

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Hester CoetzeeHester is a self-taught artist. She has an attitude of gratitude and she paints with passion. Her vibrant colours and bold brush strokes, reflects her outgoing personality. Her inspiration is creation itself, with a specific admiration for trees. She has been very successful since she has joined Art Gallery and is currently one of the 10 best sellers. She, and her husband, Arie, recently had a very successful exhibition at the Malvern Theatre. After 40 years of teaching, she has retired to be a full time artist. Her paintings bring much joy to other people’s lives. For Hester life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

;Arie Coetzee“When I dip my brush into paint, I dip it into my soul.” (Amos Langdown – a world renowned South African artist). Born in 1962, Arie grew up in a small town in South Africa, in a family where art was always visible. His inspiration is the exuberant colour of yellow wheat fields, blue rolling mountains, the emptiness of the countryside, the wide open skies filled with thunderous summer clouds and the friendly people of South Africa. All this is visible in his work. After winning his first art prize in a local art competition at the age of 11, it became a lifelong dream to be an artist. Throughout his education and later as a teacher, he worked in various painting styles, printing and sculpting to discover the genre in which he would be most comfortable. After several small exhibitions and displays in local restaurants and shops, he developed a more expressive and impressionistic style. His work, employing emotionally charged thick brushwork, takes inspiration from the simplicity and naivety of Van Gogh, and from Rembrandt’s exquisite use of light and shadow; bright colours streak energetically across the canvas. Some works adopt a calmer, subtler use of colour but the richness of pure pigment and heavy application is often uncontrollable. Arie has exhibited his marquetry successfully at Francis Illes Gallery in Rochester and sells steadily on the internet.

Gillian MowbrayLives in beautiful, rural Mid-Wales and so her inspiration is all around her, from the heights of the Cambrian Mountains to the still waters of the Elan Valley. Walking with her camera and sketchbook keeps her fit and gives her lots of ideas for the landscapes, which are partly from life and partly from imagination. Mostly self-taught, Gillian embraces different media including watercolour, coloured pencil and acrylics. She has developed a graphic, expressionist style, consisting of many layers of colour and texture, built up gradually. She loves to use colour creatively and often quite unexpectedly.